FEB15

1858 - Birth of John Joseph Montgomery, American aviation pioneer who made the 1st manned, controlled, heavier-than-air flights of the US.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Joseph_Montgomery

1890 - Birth of Matome Ugaki, admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII, most remembered for his role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He led the last Kamikaze mission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matome_Ugaki

1890 - Birth of Marie Gaston Fulerand Leon Vitalis, French WWI flying ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Vitalis - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/vitalis.php

1890 - Birth of Cosimo Rennella, Italian born Ecuadorian WWI flying ace, and pioneering aviator in south america Pre and post WWI war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosimo_Rennella - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/italy/rennella.php

1895 - Birth of George Everard Gibbons, British WWI fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Everard_Gibbons - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/gibbons2.php

1895 - Birth of Dennis Edward Francis Waight, British WWI fighter ace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Waight - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/waight.php

1897 - Birth of Frederick Dudley Travers, British WWI flying ace and pioneering airliner pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Dudley_Travers - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/travers1.php

1903 - Birth of Éric Vicomte de Spoelberch, Belgian military test pilot, one of two Belgian pilots sent to Britain to evaluate the Hawker Hurricane and the Supermarine Spitfire.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Vicomte_de_Spoelberch

1910 - King Edward VII grants the title "Royal" to the Aero Club of the United Kingdom.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/british-civil-aviation/1910.aspx

1915 - Russian Ilya Mouromets reconnaissance bombers attack targets along the Vistula river in Poland.

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1915.aspx

1917 - Death of Marcel Hauss, French WWI flying ace, killed in action.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Hauss - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/france/hauss.php

1917 - Death of Hans von Keudell, German WWI flying ace, killed in his Albatros D.III by a british Nieuport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_von_Keudell - http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/keudell.php

1918 - Death of Kenneth Lloyd Gopsill, British WWI flying ace, Killed in action

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/gopsill.php

1920 - Birth of George Eric Clifford 'Jumbo' Genders, British WWII flying ace and RAF test pilot.

http://www.cieldegloire.com/002_raf_genders_g_e_c.php - http://thetartanterror.blogspot.fr/2009/04/sqn-ldr-gec-eric-genders-afc-dfm-1920.html

1924 - 1st fligth of the Bristol Bullfinch II, experimental British two-seat fighter biplane.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/england/bristol_bullfinch2.php

1926 - The Ford Motor Co. becomes the 1st U.S. private air carrier to operate a contract airmail (CAM) route. Ford begins operations with CAM-6 between Detroit and Chicago and CAM-7 between Detroit and Cleveland.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airmails_of_the_United_States#The_conversion_to_commercially_flown_Air_Mail

1935 - Birth of Roger Bruce Chaffee, American aeronautical engineer, Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy and NASA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Chaffee

1938 - 6 USAAC B-17 Flying Fortresses starts a goodwill tour of Latin America, traveling 12,000 miles (19,312 km) to Lima, Buenos Aires, Santiago and back.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B-17_Flying_Fortress

1938 - 1st flight of the Bloch MB-170, French twin engine 3 seat reconnaissance bomber prototype.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloch_MB.170_%C3%A0_MB.178 - http://www.aviafrance.com/aviafrance1.php?ID=9214

1940 - The Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), British WWII civilian organisation that ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between UK factories, assembly plants, transatlantic delivery points, Maintenance Units (MU), scrap yards, and active service squadrons and airfields, is formed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Transport_Auxiliary

1941 - 1st flight of The Curtiss XP-46, US prototype fighter aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_XP-46

1944 - Birth of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Serebrov, Russian cosmonaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksandr_Serebrov

1944 - 142 Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses heavy bombers followed by 47 North American B-25 Mitchell and 40 Martin B-26 Marauder medium bombers dropped 1,150 tons of high explosives and incendiary bombs on the Benedictine abbey, reducing the entire top of Monte Cassino to a smoking mass of rubble.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Monte_Cassino#Destruction_of_the_abbey

http://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/history-of-aviation-timeline/interactive-aviation-timeline/world-aviation/1944.aspx

1944 - 1st flight of 2nd prototype Vickers Windsor, British four-engine heavy bomber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vickers_Windsor

1946 - 1st flight of The Douglas DC-6, American piston-powered airliner and transport aircraft

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_DC-6

1947 - Birth of Viktor Ivanovich Belenko , American aerospace engineer and lecturer of Soviet origin. Belenko was sentenced to death in the Soviet Union for state treason, having successfully defected to the West, flying his Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 "Foxbat" jet fighter to Hakodate, Japan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Belenko

1947 - An Avianca Douglas DC-4 Crashed into Mount Tablazo obscured by fog, 30 km NW of Bogota, killing all 53 on board.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19470215-1

1949 - 1st flight of The prototype Breguet Br 761 'Deux-Ponts', French 4 engine double-deck transport aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breguet_Deux-Ponts

1950 - A de Havilland DH 108 "Swallow", British tailless, swept wing with a single vertical stabilizer experimental aircraft is destroyed in a fatal crash near Brickhill, Buckinghamshire, killing its test pilot, Squadron Leader Stuart Muller-Rowland.Accident investigation pointed to a faulty oxygen system that incapacitated the pilot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/De_Havilland_DH_108#Testing - http://thetartanterror.blogspot.com/2011/02/sldr-stuart-muller-rowland-dfc-1921.html

1958 - 1st serie-built Saab J 35A Draken , swedish fighter, takes off.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/sweden/saab_draken.php

1959 - 1st flight of The Aermacchi AL-60 (Initially Lockheed L-402 or LASA-60), Italian high wing single engined light civil utility aircraft, originally designed by Al Mooney.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aermacchi_AL-60

1961 - Sabena Flight 548 Boeing 707-320 crashed on approach to Brussels' Zaventem Airport killing all 72 on board (including the entire United States figure skating team, several coaches and family members) and a farmer on ground, probably brought down by a failure of the stabilizer-adjusting mechanism.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabena_Flight_548

1962 - 1st flight of The Piasecki VZ-8 Airgeep (company designation PA-59), American prototype vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piasecki_VZ-8_Airgeep

1964 - A North Vietnamese T-28 Trojan trainer aircraft (Laotian Air Force defected aircraft), used as a night fighter, shot down a USAF Fairchild C-123 Provider, 1st air to air victory of the North Vietnamese Air Force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_People's_Air_Force#1964-1974_.28North_Vietnam.29

1964 - Birth of Leland Devon Melvin, American engineer and NASA astronaut

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leland_D._Melvin

1965 - Death of Joan Merriam Smith, American aviatrix,. in the crash of her Cessna 180

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1310&dat=19650218&id=6gBWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AOMDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6829,3118356

1965 - Mrs Guy. Maher sets out from Culver City, California on a journey to become the 1st woman to cross the United States by helicopter with a Hughes 300.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Aviation/Historical_anniversaries/February_in_aviation/February_15

1970 – A Dominicana de Aviación DC-9 crashes into the sea because of Contaminated fuel causing dual engine failure shortly after takeoff from Santo Domingo, killing 102.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-9#Accidents_and_incidents - http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19700215-0

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominicana_DC-9_air_disaster

1970 - Death of Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, British officer in the Royal Air Force. He was the commander of RAF Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Dowding,_1st_Baron_Dowding

1971 - Breda Nardi Costruzioni Aeronautiche is established for licenced production of the Hughes Helicopter series.

http://www.aviastar.org/manufacturers/0410.html

1984 - 1st flight of the Cessna 550 Citation SII designed T-47A for the US Navy with shorter span wings.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/cessna_citation2.php

1986 - 1st flight of the Beechcraft Starship, twin-turboprop six- to eight-passenger pressurized business aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beechcraft_Starship

1994 - 1st flight of The Eurocopter EC135, European twin-engine civil helicopter produced by Eurocopter, widely used amongst police and ambulance services and for executive transport, capable of flight under instrument flight rules (IFR).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_EC135

1996 – At the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China, a Long March 3 rocket, carrying an Intelsat 708, crashes into a rural village after liftoff, killing many people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March_3

2006 - Origin Pacific Airways, New-Zealand airline, ceased operations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_Pacific_Airways

2010 – Spanish airline Hola Airlines ceases operations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hola_Airlines

2010 - Death of Jeanne Marjorie Holm, 1st female one-star general of the USAF and the 1st female two-star general in any service branch of the United States, driving force behind the expansion of women's roles in the Air Force.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_M._Holm

2011 - Death of Jean Boulet, French test pilot and helicopter record breaker.

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Boulet

2011 - Gordon Boettger and Hugh Bennett broke an american two-place soaring record by covering 744 miles at altitudes up to 27,000 feet on a 9-hour, 19-minute flight out and back to Minden, Nevada, in 100-mph winds with a Discus glider with tandem seatings.

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/sailplane_record_flight_minden_nevada_boettger_bennett_204174-1.html?CMP=OTC-RSS